11 charged in connection to huge Oakland marijuana grow house raid

OAKLAND -- The Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged 11 suspects Friday in connection with a police department raid of one of the largest marijuana grow operations in city history.

Each suspect faces felony crimes of possession of marijuana for sale and cultivating marijuana, but the suspected leader of the grow operation, Adrian Orion Papajohn, 35, of Oakland, was also charged with six counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

The charges stem from an Oakland Police Department raid of a warehouse at 925 89th Ave. in East Oakland on Wednesday night during which police found about 2,500 marijuana plants, 50 pounds of dried marijuana, $40,000 in cash, six guns, ammunition and numerous body armor items.

The guns included two assault weapons, a shotgun and three pistols. The body armor items included two ballistic helmets, two sets of body armor and a bullet-resistant face masks.

Police said earlier this week that the site was not a city-sanctioned operation for the cultivation of medical marijuana.

In documents filed in court Friday, police said Papajohn, 35, was the leader of the grow operation and employed 10 others to help. Papajohn has a 2001 felony conviction from San Diego County, where he was found guilty of receiving stolen property.

Police described the grow operation earlier this week as one of the largest they have uncovered in the city's history. Officers, including the department's SWAT team, descended on the fortified warehouse Wednesday night and arrested all 11 suspects without incident.

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Inside the warehouse, police said they found a sophisticated grow operation that included separate rooms for growing, drying and packaging the drug, as well as lighting and ventilation systems.

The warehouse was also heavily fortified with reinforced steel and a security system that included surveillance cameras in almost every room. Police also found living quarters in the building.